I just finished reading a book set in Hong Kong and I got so emotionally involved in the setting that when I left my house to run some errands, I was genuinely shocked to step outside and realize that I was not actually in Hong Kong. Since I’ve been so expertly transported back to one of my favorite cities in the world, I thought I’d share a memory from HK that popped into my head today as I read.

My travel companion and I had been planning to visit Tim Ho Wan after we realized that it was one of the cheapest Michelin star restaurants in the world, and that we could get some world-renown dim sum for less than $10 per person. We showed up at the fancy mall where it was located, wandered for close to an hour just looking for the restaurant in the giant mall, and finally located it behind a giant crowd that had amassed outside, waiting for their turn.

Despite really wanting some delicious dim sum, we were eager to move on to our next adventure without standing in a crowd for what was probably going to be more than an hour. Just across the hallway from the packed dim sum place was a comically deserted Subway. We decided to grab ourselves a veggie footlong, and take it with us to the island that we were exploring that day.

A little later, we boarded the ferry, carrying our Subway picnic food. After a relaxing ride, we arrived at Cheung Chau island, which I had chosen because of its maritime and pirate history (more on that in a later post). A walking path took us from the ferry station along the shoreline of the island, and we observed brightly colored boats, lanterns, and bikes as we hiked along.

Finally, we found a quiet little courtyard with some shade and benches, and we sat down to enjoy our veggie sub. We giggled at how silly it was to eat something so American while surrounded by the excitingly unfamiliar scenery of a foreign country.

Do I wish we’d been able to have Michelin star dim sum? Absolutely. But I wouldn’t trade that shady Cheung Chau picnic for anything in the world!